At that time I lived in Winchester near the prison. Our neighbours included police officers and prison warders. If I had not considered either of these professions it was probably because I had not been encouraged at any point to think about my future or to plan a career. Until I was seven years old we had lived in Eastleigh which was a railway town. If we had stayed there I would quite possibly have looked to the railways for work. I did not have any wish to be a train driver but did at one time like the idea of being a guard.

My mother's father spent a lifetime in the railway works, first in Ashford and then from the 1930s in Eastleigh. My great, great grandfather, John Ware, had been a driver for the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). In June 1884 he and his fireman were killed when they ran into the rear of a stationary train at Deal in Kent. The company was criticised for having outdated signals showing a white light for clear instead of green but a signalman was held to blame for the accident.